Government To Take Big Decision On Diesel Engine! » MotorOctane

For the past few months, the Indian government has been criticised for E20 fuel. People were unhappy with the decision when issues such as increased maintenance costs and lower mileage came to light. Nothing affected the authorities, as the decision was never reversed! Amid everything, the government is now set to make a big decision on diesel engines!
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Big Decision

In September 2025, Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) – revealed that the government had made an attempt to blend ethanol with diesel. The experiment, however, failed! At the same time, the minister also revealed that the government will look for other alternatives, like isobutanol, to blend with diesel. Now, the government has likely found the solution! Recently, the Tata Altroz was spotted testing the Isobutanol-diesel blend in Bangalore. From the spy shot, we can confirm that the test is being carried out by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) – a government body in the petroleum & natural gas industry. But why isobutanol?

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Why Isobutanol Diesel Blend?

After the failure of the ethanol-diesel blend, the government has focused on the isobutanol-diesel blend. The previous ethanol-diesel blend experiment failed, as experts observed delayed & incomplete ignition, power loss & diesel knocking. Ultimately, this could have damaged the car engine. This was noticed when experts tried to blend ethanol beyond 5% with diesel. Isobutanol, on the other hand, do not create such issues. In fact, there are several benefits like –

• Blends easily without the help of additional chemical stabilizers.

• Higher flash points – reduces risk of fire during storage.

• High usable energy per litre than ethanol – better torque & mileage.

• Readily available & economical.

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Why Tata Altroz?

Why did HPCL choose the Altroz for its new experiment? Some possible reasons could be affordability. The Altroz is currently India’s cheapest car to come with a diesel engine. It is powered by a 1.5-litre diesel engine (89bhp & 200Nm) – paired with a 5-speed manual gearbox. Also, Tata’s 1.5-litre diesel unit is BS6-compliant and does not require AdBlue like other diesel engines. And finally, the Altroz, being a reliable Tata car with an accessible service network in India, could be the reason HPCL chose the Altroz for its testing.

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